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Two Christmases ago, I was jobless and broke, but I had a few gift cards I had managed to get before becoming not-employed. I was trying to figure out a way to give them away, but most ways required me to buy a card-holder-card, which just wasn’t in my (non-existent) budget.

So, one day I’m with my aunt who happens to like Altoids. She had a tin in her car, and to make conversation I asked her what she did with the tins when she was done (she likes to recycle as much as possible). She told me she recycled them, and BAM! The idea hit me like a ton of bricks. They might just fit a gift card. So I asked her to start saving them for me.

Now, once I got the tins, I realized I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about decorating them, or changing them, because they are so oddly shaped, but I managed to figure it out, and they were a big hit that Christmas. Everyone saved them to give away again. 🙂 Recycling at its best, right?

So, anyway, let’s get started!

What You’ll Need:

Altoids Tin (however many you want)

Ribbon, and a Christmas Card (one you don’t mind cutting up)

Hot Glue Gun

The first thing you’ll need to do is clean out the tin. That candy powder is nice and all, but not for our cards.

Clean Your Altoids Tins

After cleaning, you need to take the lid off of the tin. I failed to take a picture of this, but its really easy. Just bend back the two metal tabs holding the top on and remove the lid. Once you’ve done that, you can trace your lid onto whatever covering your using. In my case, I chose a Christmas card, but I’ve done them with wrapping paper too, which will have to be another post!

Traced out our Tin Lid

Once you have your traces, you cut them out.

Cut Out Your Traced Pieces

Once you have yours cut out, its time to put them on your tin, like I have done here. I checked that they fit both the top and inside of the tin lid. If yours don’t, just trim and adjust a little at a time. After you have them cut just right, go ahead and glue them on. I used hot glue for this one.

Glue the Card to the Top and Insides of the Tin

Glue the Card to the Top and Insides of the Tin

Now that you have your card glued to your tin, reassemble the tin by putting the lid back on the base, and bend the metal tabs back into place. *Note, if you are having trouble with this, you can use needle nose pliers for better strength and control. Once the tin is back together, its time for the fun part! DECORATING!

I hot glued ribbon around the tin lid, and on the inside of the base, where the card would be.

Hot Glue Ribbon or Other Decorations to Your Tin

Hot Glue Ribbon or Other Decorations to Your Tin

It looks good, right? And it’s easy! Now, the bottom of the tin still has Altoids info written all over it, and you can trace out another piece and glue it there, but I didn’t bother to do that on this one.

A Gift Card Box Made Out of an Altoids Tin, The Finished Product

So, there you have it! How to make an Altoids Tin into a Gift Card Holder. You can use other decorations besides ribbon, and a card, but its easiest. There are other ways to decorate these tins with wrapping paper and even tissue paper, which I will have to do soon and make a post of! If you make one, feel free to share! Thanks for reading!